[QSH17Z]

So I finally had my car delivered last Thursday and made an appointment to collect it at 11am. After waiting well over half an hour for my (new never met him before as my original salesperson had quit) salesperson to commence the handover process he turned up from a test drive with another customer somewhere, introduced himself and then got another salesperson to start the delivery process. After doing the paperwork and then moving out to see the car that salesperson was then almost immediately replaced by salesperson number 3 as he had another appointment. Never mind the appointment I made with salesperson 1 for 11am who was still dealing with another customer...So after being asked what I want to know about the car, I hesitate as I expected at least a brief rundown of basic features/functions. So I ask for the second time about sighting the build plate (as I requested a 2010 build, first guy assured me it was a 2010 but conveniently didn't show me) but no one knew where to find it until a senior manager was roped in.

Finding out right then that it was a Dec 2009 build wasn't my idea of an April Fools joke! I was furious! I told them I could've been driving a 2009 build ordered car the same since January (I ordered in Oct 09) instead of waiting until April for a supposed 2010 build only to have it arrive as a 2009. At this point several people all hurriedly tried to gather paperwork and the like to convince me it was a 2010 build and the sticker was wrong. This is in spite of the actual sticker being two thirds pulled off on a supposedly brand new car. Of course the sticker is easily replaced with a Jan 2010 I am told. I was shown the rego sticker as being a 2010 model and also the service database record showing a build date of first week 2010. I instantly recalled the same scenario described of an X5 owner in Adelaide who I believe is now demanding BMW get them a 2010 build or substantial discount to which they won't agree. So I went solely on the rego sticker evidence and hoped to hell that the sticker was a mistake and told them to order in a new sticker. They then had to fix up my front numberplate mounting (it was completely crooked) and also debadge the car even though I specified that as a factory option last year. They palmed me off in a car and called me back a few hours later to recommence delivery. I then returned to collect it and took some photos only to notice it had an almost unbelievable 44kms on it! I've bought demo cars with less mileage than that but I couldn't be stuffed arguing any more and said not a word. So I finally drove out of the dealer (near as to 7 hours after my initial appointment!) trying to further convince myself that it was indeed a 2010 build. I have since checked on another forum and found that my chassis number comes up with a late December 2009 build on that database which is supposedly the same as BMW even though they say it's a 2010.

I have since just delved deeper and ripped out the back seat to find a parts list for the construction of the back seat and low and behold it clearly showed a date of 4th Jan 2010 on it - oh the relief! So now I reckon that the car started production in the last week of 2009 and rolled off the line in the first week of 2010 but it would've been a hell of alot less stress and heartache if the correct sticker had been applied in the first instance. I'm still surprised that BMW dealers appear just like any other stereotypical dealer though so this should be a warning to anyone awaiting a 2010 build also to check the sticker on the car itself. Here's a few obligatory photos from my pretty eventful delivery day: